The Hercules Engine News

Glenn Karch

| May/June 1999

20601 Old State Road, Haubstadt, Indiana 47639

The Bournival & Company of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, was
apparently an importer or jobber for Hercules-built engines. Just
recently, J. F. Pollard of Vankleek Hill, Ontario, sent me a folder
from a Bournival catalog: Section 'A,' Catalogue No. 32. It
shows various Hercules type engines along with parts illustrations
and specifications. It is captioned in both English and French. In
French the brand is 'Champion Economique,' and in English
it is 'Champion Economy.'

The engines shown appear to be early ones from 1915 or '16.
They were available with either igniter, battery and coil ignition,
or the Webster magneto system. Illustrations show the early priming
cup on the side of the cylinder and the heavily weighted flywheel
side to balance the engine. Both hit and miss and throttling
governed engines are shown.

The two color illustrations in the folder show the engines to be
dark green like the Hercules with red striping; however, there is
no decal or other brand shown on the engine.

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Soon after hearing from Mr. Pollard, an e-mail message came from
Randy Faulkner asking about a 1? HP Bournival that he had just
obtained. It has an extra tag with the Bournival ID on it. The
engine also has the regular Hercules tag with a 1919 serial number
on it. Randy asked about the color because his is familiar rust
color right now.

Production of engines very similar to those produced by Hercules
were being built at Plessisville, Quebec, beginning in 1919. Among
the brands labeled from Plessisville was a Champion Economique. The
question is, 'Did Bournival cease to offer Hercules type
engines when production began at La Fonderie De
Plessisville?'

Shown here are two illustrations taken from that folder. One
shows a 3 HP engine belted to a conventional pump jack and the
other shows a 1? HP engine attached to a direct gear driven
horizontal pump jack. Illustrations are identical to those in use
in the Hercules literature of that time period.

'CHAMPION-ECONOMY' Engine Type P.-4

This outfit consists of our regular 1? Horse-Power 'CHAMPION
-ECONOMY' Engine and a Direct Connected Horizontal Pump Jack
fastened to the Engine by four cap screws. Particularly adapted for
pneumatic water supply outfits or where any horizontal pump is
used.

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